It’s April, and that means that gardening conversation in most parts of the country has begun to turn to direct-sow seeds for cool-season crops—crops like ‘Grandma Hadley’s’ lettuce, a rare butterhead variety Seed Savers Exchange has stewarded since 1988.

How can you and your garden help us find out more about the global biodiversity associated with the plants in gardens? One way is to participate in agricultural citizen science projects being started by a group of scientists at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

As an adult, Phil stewarded ‘Big Brown’ as carefully as his parents, Maude and Walter, had before him. Yet despite his painstaking efforts to preserve it, Phil became increasingly concerned that his beloved bean seed would not survive...

Since 2011, the Member-Grower Evaluation Network (M-GEN) has been instrumental in evaluating the Seed Savers Exchange seed collection of over 25,000 varieties. In 2017, the program is relaunch and expanding under a new name.

At Seed Savers we sometimes jokingly referred to our collection of 103 turnips and 81 rutabagas as “turnabagas.” Confusion reigns over these crop types, owing to the fact that in the United Kingdom, a common name for rutabaga is “Swedish turnip.” Botanically, however, rutabagas and turnips are different species, Brassica napus and Brassica rapa, respectively, and will not cross-pollinate.

We’re ready for the gardening season to begin and are getting a head start with the grand re-opening of our Visitors Center. Our gift and garden center opened on March 1 and is stocked with plenty of unique finds.

Seed Savers Exchange Blog

Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit, member supported organization that collects, preserves and shares heirloom seeds for our future. Since 1975, SSE and our supporters have collected the seeds and stories that would otherwise have been lost.